


Meet Alfie

by MadMags85



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel Has a Guinea Pig, Fluff, M/M, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-07
Updated: 2014-06-07
Packaged: 2018-02-03 19:12:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1754927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadMags85/pseuds/MadMags85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a new guy moves into the apartments above his coffee shop, Dean finds he can't take his eyes off of him. Then, one day, the guy looses his pet guinea pig in Dean's shop. Fluff ensues. Mostly inspired by 9x11.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meet Alfie

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I just wanted to write a fic where Cas owns a guinea pig. And also for him to have leaves stuck in his hair :D

“Hey Dean!”

Dean grinned, waving to Jo as she entered the shop. “The usual?” he asked, pulling out a large ceramic mug from one of the shelves behind the counter. Jo always ordered a medium latte, two shots. She nodded, and he got to work behind the coffee machine, his gaze occasionally drifting over towards the new customer with the messy black hair who sat in the corner.

They guy had just moved into one of the apartments that lay above Dean’s coffee shop, and Dean had never seen anyone more attractive in his life. He _totally_ had the hot-librarian look going for him, what with his crumpled tie and skewed glasses, which only slightly hid his drop-deadgorgeous eyes. When he had first made eye contact with Dean last Thursday morning, Dean barely had the brain power to do anything but mutter out a few words and attempt to make the guy’s espresso without screwing up. He didn’t even know his name.

“He’s cute,” Jo’s voice interrupted Dean’s thoughts. She nodded pointedly at the man Dean was staring at.

“Um,” Dean got out, feeling his face heat up with embarrassment. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, _come on_ Dean!” Jo exclaimed. “You’ve been gawking at him since I walked in, and you gave me steamed milk instead of a latte! Have you even talked to him?”

“No,” Dean grumbled, mechanically wiping down the counter in search of an alternative to being interrogated by Jo. It didn’t work.

“What’s his name?” she asked, pressing on.

“I dunno,” Dean muttered, now focusing intently on cleaning a small area of the counter top. His towel moved back and forth over the gleaming surface, but he didn’t dare stop to look at Jo. Thankfully, she appeared to have gone quiet for the moment, probably plotting her next move.

“May I have another espresso?” asked a voice that was deep, gravelly, and decidedly _not_ Jo. Dean whipped his head up, finding himself face to face with hot-librarian guy.

“Er, yeah,” Dean stuttered, taking a quick glance at Jo, only to find her with her hand over her mouth, barely suppressing a laugh. He glared at her before turning back to the espresso machine, his hands shaking slightly.

“So,” he heard Jo say. “Are you new around here?”

“Yes,” the man replied. Dean perked up slightly, eager for any scrap of information he could glean about the new guy.

“Well, you couldn’t have chosen a better coffee shop to come to,” Jo replied. “Dean’s coffee’s great! Isn’t that right, Dean?”

Dean walked over, handing the man his espresso before getting out a short, “Yeah.” Real smooth Dean, he thought to himself. They guy was gonna think he was a total dork.

“What’s your name?” Dean asked, feeling his ears start to turn red again. Jo nodded approvingly, looking like a proud parent whose child had just learned an important social skill.

“Castiel,” the man answered. “Do you own this coffee shop?”

“Yeah,” Dean said. “It was my dad’s. Family business, ya know?”

“I see,” Castiel replied. “It is very admirable. Thank you for the espresso, but now I must be heading off to work.” With that he left, the door jingling as he exited. Immediately, Jo turned on Dean, a massive grin plastered across her face.

“Ooooh, Castiel!” she said in a sing-song voice, her head bopping back and forth. “ _Someone_ has a crush!”

“Shut up,” Dean mumbled, throwing the towel at her. Jo just laughed and chucked it back at him, hitting him squarely on the forehead.

***

Over the next few days, Dean saw Castiel every morning. Whenever he walked into the shop, Dean’s heart would speed up a bit, but at least they were having some conversation now. Dean learned that Castiel had moved to Lawrence in order to teach Religious Studies at KU, that he had an older brother named Gabriel, and that he loved blueberry muffins. In turn, Dean told Castiel about Sam, and how his little brother was getting a full ride to Sanford Law School.

However, Dean still couldn’t get up the courage to ask Castiel out. Hell, he didn’t even know if Castiel _was_ gay, and he was not about to embarrass himself by asking out some straight guy he had only just met a few weeks ago. So, they continued to make small talk while Castiel waited for his daily espressos, and Dean continued to steal secret glances at Cas while he sat at his usual table in the corner.

One late afternoon, as Dean was stacking chairs and preparing to close the shop, he heard a commotion upstairs above the coffee shop. He didn’t think too much of it until he heard feet pounding down the stairs that led up to the apartments and Cas burst into the shop, his eyes frantic.

“Dean!” he shouted, running around the room and looking under the various tables that were set up in the sitting portion of the shop. “Did you see a guinea pig come in here?”

“A what?” Dean exclaimed, wondering if he had heard right.

“A guinea pig,” Cas repeated frantically, eyes darting rapidly around the room. “Have you seen one?”

“Whoa, whoa, calm down Cas,” Dean said. “Now, tell me what’s going on.”

“Cas?” Cas asked, abruptly halting his search to look at Dean confusedly.

“Er, uh. Yeah,” Dean said, feeling awkward as he realized he had just given voice to the nickname that had been forming in his head. He scrambled to explain, “I just give people nicknames sometimes. Uh, sorry.”

“No, it’s fine,” Cas said, a small smile appearing on his face. “No one has ever given me a nickname before. Well, unless you count ‘Castiella,’ which was what Gabriel used to tease me with when we were children.”

Dean chuckled. “Cool. So, about this guinea pig?”

Cas looked at him, the panic returning to his eyes. Quickly, he began to explain.

“I had my apartment door open so the movers could bring up the couch that I only just had brought from Detroit. But, something went amiss and they knocked over the cage that held my guinea pig, Alfie! I chased him down the stairs, and then saw him run into your shop through the door that connects the stairwell to this store.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you look,” Dean offered. “Anything for you—um, I mean, for one of our loyal customers.” Shutting his mouth before he could say anything else stupid, Dean turned to go shut all the doors leading out of the coffee shop.

“What’d you say its name was?” Dean asked.

“ _He_ ,” Cas emphasized, “is called Alfie.”

“Alright,” Dean replied. “Here Alfie! C’mon boy!” He whistled, hoping the guinea pig would appear out from behind a table or something.

“He is not a dog, Dean,” Cas said bemusedly.

“Er, right,” Dean said, feeling his ears turn red.

Hadn’t he made the decision not to open his idiotic mouth? He glanced over at Cas, and was surprised to see that the man now had his head stuck behind Dean’s row of potted plants. There was a loud rustling sound, and the plants seemed to shake as if in an earthquake while Cas plowed through them, looking for the guinea pig.

“See him?” Dean asked.

“No,” Cas said, emerging from the bushes with his glasses slightly askew and his hair even more messy than usual. He had a twig poking out of the left side of his head, as well as a few leaves scattered haphazardly across the top of his head.

“You’ve got some leaves in your hair,” Dean said, pointing to Cas’ head.

“Do I?” Cas replied, running his fingers uselessly through his hair. “Did I get them?”

“No,” Dean said. “Here, let me get them.” Before Cas could protest, Dean reached out and plucked the leaves out of his hair, ruffling Cas’ hair once he was finished. He couldn’t help himself; he just _had_ to touch Cas’ hair, even if it was just this once.

Suddenly, Dean heard a rustling sound coming from beneath the pastry case. Cas heard it too, and the two of them rushed quickly to bend down and look under the case. Sure enough, a little orange and white guinea pig stared out at them with beady eyes.

“Alfie!” Cas exclaimed, reaching out to grab the guinea pig. Unfortunately, his arms were too short, and Alfie remained stubbornly beneath the case.

“Damn it,” Dean cursed. “How do we get him out now?”

“I suppose we just wait patiently,” Cas replied.

“Hey!” Dean said, an idea forming in his mind. “Does he like muffins?”

“I guess?” Cas said. “Why?”

“Well,” Dean began, “we could lure him out with food, and then catch him in a trap. I think I’ve got a couple of cardboard boxes lying around.”

Cas nodded, looking excited. “That’s a great idea, Dean!” he said enthusiastically.

Dean grinned, not caring that he was staring at Cas for way longer than was socially acceptable. Finally, he tore his eyes away from Cas’ blue ones and headed to get a box, a stick and some string. Luckily, he had all the supplies he needed, and soon he was making a simple box trap.

After it was complete, Dean placed a few crumbs of muffin underneath the box and went to sit down next to Cas, the string that was attached to the stick held in one hand.

“I think it’s best if we be quiet,” Cas whispered.

Dean nodded absently- he was a little preoccupied with studying the tiny flecks of light blue that were scattered across Cas’ eyes. Slowly, his gaze trailed down from Cas’ eyes and towards his mouth. His lips were a little dry, and Dean wondered vaguely what it would be like to kiss them until they were swollen and shiny.

Dean flushed, embarrassed at what he had just been thinking. He jerked his head down quickly, hoping Cas hadn’t noticed Dean gawking at him.

Shit. Who was he kidding? _Of course_ Cas had noticed, Dean couldn’t have made it more obvious had he been carrying a pair of binoculars. He stole a quick glance at Cas, and was surprised to see that Cas was looking at him with his head tilted slightly and a fairly prominent blush spread across his cheeks.

Hmmm… That was an interesting development. Dean caught Cas’ eyes again, raised one eyebrow, and _winked_ , eagerly looking to see what Cas’ reaction would be. He was not disappointed. Cas turned even redder, quickly ducking his head to stare at his hands, which lay twisting in his lap. Dean grinned, pleased with himself. Maybe Cas wasn’t so straight after all.

They sat there in silence for a few more minutes until; finally, the guinea pig crawled tentatively out from under the case and began to eat the muffin. Dean waited a few more seconds, making sure the guinea pig was relaxed and eating before pulling down on the string.

With a soft ‘thunk,’ the box fell down, trapping the guinea pig underneath. Dean gave himself a mental pat on the back before proudly walking over to the box and picking up the guinea pig.

“Here you go, Cas,” he said, holding out the guinea pig for Cas to take.

Cas beamed up at him, cradling the guinea pig to his chest and saying a pleased thank you.

“No problem,” Dean said, grinning foolishly at Cas.

Cas cleared his throat, ears turning slightly pink as he said, “I would like to repay you, if that’s alright.”

Dean’s heart sped up a little as he replied, “Sure. What’d you have in mind?”

“I was thinking…Dinner and a movie tomorrow night?”

“That sounds great, Cas,” Dean said, happiness bubbling up into his chest. “It’s a date.”

***


End file.
